Zimpapers Logo

Engineering, Georgiadis Trucking and Harare businessman, Senator Aguy Georgias have filed papers in the General Court in Luxembourg for a claim for significant damages.
Barrister Hugh Mercer QC, of Essex Court Chambers instructed by Malcolm Robson and Elizabeth Goulder, solicitors of London law firm Bates, Wells and Braithwaite last week filed two applications, one for damages and the other to expedite the proceedings.
Senator Georgias, who is Deputy Minister of Public Works, is making the claim against the EU Council and EU Commission for personal and consequential business losses suffered as a result of his unlawful inclusion on the EU sanctions list, first implemented against targeted individuals and institutions in Zimbabwe on 18 February 2002.
The sanctions include a travel ban and the freezing of assets belonging to the targeted persons.
Georgias’ name was added to the EU sanctions list on 16 April, 2007 following his appointment then as Deputy Minister of Economic Development. Since then the nonconstituency Senator has fought a lone legal battle resulting recently in the litigation commenced in the General Court.
Georgias’ name, along with 35 others, was removed from the EU sanctions list on 23 February 2011.
The Senator is making a claim for non-contractual damages against the EU Commission and the EU Council under Article 340 of the Treaty for the European Union (TFEU).
He contends that these EU institutions have taken unlawful actions in the adoption of Commission Regulation 412/2007 (which amended the initial implementing Council Regulation 314/2004) and led to Senator Georgias’ wrongful inclusion within the EU sanctions regime for a period of almost 5 years.
Georgias believes that he has been unfairly targeted when in fact he has fought hard at great personal risk to engage the democratic institutions of his country to uphold the rule of law, ensure respect for human rights of minorities such as the coloured community, white farmers and others within Zimbabwe.
Senator Georgias argues that the decision to include him within the EU sanctions reqime as a result of his appointment as a minister of the Zimbawean Government is to assume guilt by association. In his claim, Senator Georgias most strongly protests at the wholesale outlawing of the democratic institutions of a country, so that every person holding political office in that country, regardless of his lack of power to influence general government policy, is deemed by that fact alone to be working against democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Despite repeated requests to date, the EU Council and Commission have failed to disclose any direct evidence in support of the decision to target Senator Georgias within the EU sanctions regime.
His claim seeks to repair the damage to his good name and that of his businesses, which he has proudly spent most of his working life building, through a reasonable award of damages to reflect the harm caused by these arbitrary measures.
Georgias’ lawyers now await a formal response to his applications from the EU Council and EU Commission which should be filed within the next 2 months at the latest.
It is not known at this stage when the case will be heard in the General Court but the application to expedite the proceedings should be determined within the next 2 weeks.